Michele Mellgren & Associates of Fort Lauderdale, which is now rewriting zoning codes for Lauderdale-by-the-Sea and Wilton Manors, handles the town's planning and zoning.

Companies specializing in city services may be the wave of the future, thanks to a Broward County mandate requiring unincorporated areas to either join existing cities or incorporate by 2005, according to company founder John Canada, who says he's advising potential prospects he declines to name. "The next two years will see opportunities pop up in Broward and other parts of the state."

Also, as budgets tighten, more cities are examining this option, which proponents claim can hold down ballooning labor costs.

That spells opportunities for entrepreneurs, who say cities provide ongoing work. But they acknowledge challenges, such as having to operate in a fluid political climate and contending with open records laws.

Generally, cities maintain their own infrastructure and contract out for some services, such as fire protection and garbage pickup. In recent years, many have added building inspections, billing services, landscaping and school crossing guard service to the list.

Cities today are in a ticklish position, says Jim Ward, vice president of operations of Moyer and Associates, a Coral Springs company performing administrative services to cities, including financial reporting and parks and recreation staffing.

"There's a much higher demand for an increased level of services by residents. And at the same time increased pressure on municipal government to decrease costs."

Privatization works smoothly in Southwest Ranches, Canada said. Nearly two years after forming as a municipal corporation, the town boasts the lowest tax rate in Broward and has $1.5 million in cash on hand. Canada estimates the town saves 30 to 40 percent in staffing costs alone by using his company.

Currently he is overseeing a long-awaited, $2 million, 20-acre park with horse show rinks for equestrian use and nature trails, expected to be completed in February.

`More productive'

Hollywood-based Calvin, Giordano and Associates has an even bigger client than Southwest Ranches: the city of Weston, with its 56,000 people.

Calvin has 100 employees in three offices. The company also provides consulting services for Dania Beach, Miramar, Davie, and for private developers whose projects don't create a conflict of interest with the firm's city contracts.

Small and newly formed cities are most likely to opt for privatization because there is less chance of clashing with unionized city workers.

"It also works well with rapidly growing cities," where city workers are not as likely to be displaced, says Dennis Giordano of Calvin, Giordano. The company has a 12-member team for Weston and expanded its growth planning and landscaping divisions to accommodate the city's needs.

"Everyone was watching Weston with great interest and waiting to see how it turns out, and so far it seems to be going quite well," said Eileen Cudney, executive director of the Broward League of Cities.

Unlike Southwest Ranches, Weston employs its own city manager, an assistant city manager and a city clerk. Calvin, Giordano handles all other administrative departments, including engineering, surveying, construction management and inspection, planning and zoning and landscape architecture.

The company recently designed a 5-acre neighborhood park, called Gator Run Park, on Arvida Parkway.

When a city undertakes such a project, it must coordinate a myriad of departments and contractors. But when one firm oversees work from start to finish and tasks are performed in-house, there's less chance for snags and delays, Calvin, Giordano says.

"Often in cities different departments have competing interests, but here we're all working for the same goal," said Shelly Eichner, a partner at Calvin, Giordano. "There's less politics."

Working with a private company is "less expensive, more efficient, more productive," said John Flint, Weston city manager. "There's a cultural difference in that when you contract with someone they are working by invitation rather than by right as an employee."

It is easier to fire a poorly performing worker employed by a private company since a unionized city worker can invoke rights under a collective bargaining agreement.